North Korea, South Korea exchange artillery fire as rising tensions alarm U.S. officials

U.S. officials expressed growing alarm Thursday after North and South Korea fired dozens of artillery rounds at each other, ratcheting tensions on the divided peninsula to their highest point in nearly a year.

South Korea, which is engaged in annual joint military drills with the U.S., fired back at the North after Pyongyang launched a barrage of shells southward in anger over Seoul’s broadcasting of anti-North propaganda messages across the Demilitarized Zone.

And on Friday morning, North Korea upped the ante further, at least rhetorically, saying its troops near the border are in a “quasi-state of war” and should be ready for any operations by Friday evening.